So, this week was the last week of teaching, which is saddening. All three of us have really enjoyed it, I think much more than we thought we would. Looking back to the first day we taught, we were so terrified, and now we are all not wanting the term to end! What a great experience. Another one of those that I'm really glad I was challenged to do. We are going to be sad to see the students go. All three of us told our classes goodbye earlier this week which prompted good bye songs and notes and letters. I'm not sure how much we actually taught them about the subjects we were teaching but what a great opportunity for us to learn from them and about them. Hopefully they learned something or other from us!

The deep thought of the week is about school and education in general. The basic school here is in dire straights compared to the secondary. Don't get me wrong, they both have needs, but the basic I think has a few more. A lot of the kids don't have shoes, pencils, pens, enough clothes to wear when it gets cold, basic things like that. They are intelligent kids. Sometimes its not reflected in class mainly I think because of the language difference, but if you sit and talk to them or ask them questions and get to know them they are fantastic. And most of them want to be there, and most of them try pretty hard, though there are exceptions of course. I have a child that I sponsor with Compassion International. Here's my soapbox...a lot of times I kid myself into thinking that I don't have the money to sponsor that kid. This is not true at all. If I didn't go buy coffee in the morning at McDonalds or Starbucks, or didn't stop for that ice cream cone, or didn't go see two movies in one week, or just paid attention a little more to the way I spend my money I wouldn't have that problem. Its not that I don't have the money, its that I choose to spend it elsewhere. So, I'm sure some of you have the same problem, I can't be the only one who does that. Take a look at where your money goes, you might be surprised, I sure was. Sponsoring a kid with Compassion or World Vision or a bunch of those other organizations is only about $30 a month. Thats like a cup of coffee a day. Most of us can do that, lets be honest. Kids here drop out and then come back to school a whole lot, many times its because they don't have money for school fees, others because a choice has to be made between feeding the family and school. That's not right. So no guilt trip though. You can't give out of guilt, thats a terrible motivator. Its between you and God what you give and how much and all of that. I'm just saying, take a look at where your money goes and then take a look around and see where it needs to go. I need to work on this one too. There's nothing wrong with going to see a movie, but I think we should learn to be good stewards of what God has given us, whether that be money or time or relationships. Off the soapbox now.

We're off to Macha today (where I went last time I was in Zambia)! We are all pretty excited. There is another group from Messiah there also which will be great to see our friends! Hopefully we can get in a little bit at the hospital there also, that would be swell.

So, I think I need to go pack and make copies of the final exam for our students...ta ta for now.

Hello Hello Hello.

Its been a while...lets see.

We've mostly just been staying in Sikalongo the past few weeks which has actually been pretty nice compared to the ton of traveling we were doing in the beginning of the summer. Its been nice to be around and teach and get to know the students more. They come by a lot in the late afternoon or evening and we sit around and talk, its been really nice to be around for that. The Bible Institute and Sikalongo (SBI) has also restarted. Originally we were going to be teaching there but it wasn't up and running when we got here due to a whole lot of different things. Its up and going now though and that has been a new activity I think we are going to get involved in during the weeks to come. Right now there are 5 pastors in their third and final year at SBI . We are going to be teaching English to the wives of these pastors starting next week which I'm sure will be another great experience! We had a big welcome dinner last week for all of the pastors and thier families last week (about 60 people) which turned out to be a really fun evening. There was, because this is Africa, a whole ton of singing and dancing. I'm going to miss that when I go home!

The exciting activity for last week was a student, Ashley, who came to visit us. She has been here for a year teaching with a mission organization and is just preparing to leave. We were all really glad to have her visit us. It was sooooo nice to have another person around our age! We even made pizza for dinner one night she was here, which turned out amazingly. We visited her village where she was staying at the end of last week. They had this huge assembly of all of the students and teachers and a bunch of peole from the community for us. It was cool to see where she had been staying and to see a some schools that are very different from where we are teaching. We were pretty sad to see her go. This week our exciting activity was joining one of the student choirs up at church! It has been a blast so far. Not only are we singing but its in a foreign language and we dance at the same time. Its pretty funny. The choir is so incredibly good though, its pretty fantastic just to be a part of something like that.

Deep thought for the week--get up early tomorrow and get your coffee and go watch the sunrise. its pretty fantastic and I rarely have time for it.

Until next time!

Happy Fourth of July!

I can't believe its actually July, what in the world happened to June? I guess time flies when you are having fun...

So lets see...last weekend we went to Livingstone to pick up Mrs. Thomas, our professors wife. While there we did the touristy thing too...we went to see Victoria Falls and went on a Safari in Botswanna and all that good stuff. Victoria Falls is amazing, there was a whole lot of water this year so it was even more spectacular than last time. We hiked down to the bottom again which was great and got soaked on the bridge across. Saturday we went on our Safari which was great! We saw tons of elephants, giraffe's, hippos, monkeys, and we even saw some lions! We were right at the turn around point and we turned a corner and there were four lions, two males and two females. It was absolutely amazing, our hearts were beating out of our chests. One of the males did not appreciate our presence and growled at us and half lunged our direction so we high tailed it out of there. It was amazing though. Monday we all went and did the gorge swing. There is this huge gorge and they have rappeling (no idea how to spell that) and a zipline across and then they have the actual gorge swing. So we progressed gradually up to that. The gorge swing is literally stepping off a 53 meter cliff into thin air and freefalling. It was INSANE!! You can't help but scream in the beginning and then when you think about screaming you can't. It was amazing...crazy crazy crazy. We have excellent video and pictures of all of us dont you worry!

The teaching is going really well. We gave our first test this week. The kids did pretty well, a lot of very decent grades which is always good when they understand what the heck you are talking about. Especially if this is my first time teaching and we were simply handed a textbook, told to invent a ciriculum and teach in a second language to all of these kids with minimal English skills! I'm having a blast teaching, the students are really fun, after the test we just talked about all sorts of stuff from food and marriage in the States to music and holidays.

So since today is the fourth...we decided to celebrate a bit! We're having some quality dining options tonight. Fried chicken (we bought and killed a chicken yesterday), mashed potatoes, apple pie and potentially ice cream which we are currently trying to figure out. It should be delicious and a nice change from our usual diet of rice/corn based products and veggies, which is delicious, but there's only so many ways in which to combine such ingredients!

Deep thought for the week--I believe I sell myself short a great deal of the time. I don't do things because I am too scared. Too scared of what people will think, of how I will look, of the fact that maybe its too hard or I am under-qualified, or maybe that I will look foolish, or maybe just scared because its out of my box. There are so many things here that I have done that are sooooo far out of my box its not even funny. Teaching is one. I hate standing up in front of people, I hate hearing myself talk that long, and I never thought I would be remotely good at it. Or jumping off a cliff, which was terrifying but fantastic. Don't sell yourself short on experiences just because they are scary. Yes people will laugh (here they laugh at us allll the time, pretty much everytime you open your mouth), but maybe you should learn to take yourself less seriously. Yes things will stretch you, but you don't know what you are made of until you do something you thought you previously couldn't. Yes maybe things will be hard but push yourself, you might surprise yourself. I mean don't go crazy, but don't wimp out and then regret that you did later. Carpe diem my friends because you might not ever find another time where you are at the same place as you are now ever again.

And now...the apple pie is calling to me...